The Satsang Interviews, part 1
Leslie: How did this idea come about in the first place? The Satsang Weekend?
Dave: I've wanted to do something like this for quite a long time. I didn't know if I should take something like this on tour. There's such a lot of organising, and a lot of work involved, any, and to try to take it place to place and do a show might be a bit too much. So the idea came about to do it in my house, it's such a lovely surrounding. It's a beautiful place to hang out, the surrounding country side and all that.
The house is a decent size. We're looking to get a more exclusive, genuine and small group. Because I don't think a bigger group of people would work. There isn't the space, anyway.
But it's something I've wanted to do. Obviously the music is so important to me. But I have so many interests.
I thought it'd be a chance to cover a lot of ground. Talking about everything like, you know, yoga and all the mystical stuff as well as having a good time, with music and doing a bit of chanting. Having a fun long weekend.
Leslie: The subjects you've chosen for the talks so far, are these subjects that are near and dear to you?
Dave: Yes, and as you know Rosina Mostardini is going to help me with a lot of these things. She's been involved with Rock Spirit Radio and the World Healing Sessions on my website and on Facebook.
It's a doing thing rather than a telling thing. I want people to interject and have a dialogue ongoing between us. I want to show my morning routines, my meditation techniques and breathing exercises and hopefully other people with share with me their practices, and their beliefs as well.
I want it to be interaction rather than me just lecturing or teaching people.
Rosina's also a Reiki Master she will be incorporating that as well as how to channel psychic energy and utilise it for our benefit.
We will be talking about UFOs and different belief systems, what people believe in and perhaps even what they don't.
As you know I believe in lots of things, and I do have things that I happen to favour.
It's an interesting time now, there are so many alternative ideas and thoughts about the world and how we interact with this new, well not new information, it's really old information. Most of it.
We talk about yoga and about psychic stuff and even UFOs, it's all old information, just coming to light more and come to people's awareness more.
Leslie: There's more of an acceptance to those concepts now, too.
Dave: Oh yeah. I mean I want to do this weekend in a fun way. I think it's only when people get together that you can really get to the nitty-gritty about what's going on in the mind. What is going on in the hearts and minds of people. There's only so much we can do on the internet.
So I think it's important to have human interaction, with all these things.
As well as I will be playing music. Doing some, hopefully, new songs. I'm hoping to have a little band, just two or three of us. Maybe get a couple of the guys from the Dave Davies Band over. Just a small set up, I mean our house isn't that big!
But it's big enough to have a good time!
Leslie: Are you planning on recording any of this for archive purposes or a DVD?
Dave: We've been talking about that. We'll have a more concrete schedule in a week or so. One of things we're discussing is whether or not we will be recording it or not. Maybe we'll just record certain aspects of it.
We'll definitely record the music part of it. But it also might be a good idea to record all of it and then see what we get!
After all it is just as important to record people praying as it is to record someone singing.
Leslie: Capture the energy of the event and it can carry on after the weekend is over.
Dave: Definitely. Since it is going to be pretty exclusive, because I think you can do a lot more when it's just a few people instead of a huge crowd.
It'll be a change to interact with people on a personal level.
At a show you get up on stage, and hopefully have a good time, and afterwards you only get to meet a handful of people. You don't really get to know anybody that attended the show that well, as a result.
I wanted to do something that I could learn from as well. I've been approached by acupuncturists and people involved in alternative medicine.
Leslie: Are you considering adding them to the Satsang Weekend or would this be for a future get together?
Dave: I think it will have to be for another time. There is so much going on then anyway.
The main focus will be on spiritual and psychic development this time out. Practices I do, and those of others.
We're at a time, in human history, where I think we need to really openly share the way we feel and think about the world and our community. Be it just a group of people, or family or country or racial groups. It's only by finding out what's going on in people's hearts and minds that we can interact with their ideas and they with ours.
It should be quite a learning curve on everybody's part.
Leslie: They'll learn from you and you'll learn from them.
Dave: Exactly! I don't want it to be me giving a lecture. I want it to be more like the Hopi Indian's practice of just sitting in a circle and having spiritual discussions. It's not like a teacher standing up in front of a class.
Leslie: Less of a lecture, more of a discussion.
Dave: I want it to be very open, a mutual learning experience. And add into that the music I would like this weekend to be educational as well as fun.
Leslie: Music and spirituality are a pretty potent combination, in some ways music can be healing all on its own.
Dave: Of course, absolutely! And that's why I've tried to do in a major portion of my adult life as a performer. With The Kinks, and definitely with my own solo shows and work and recordings. I've always tried to drive it by spiritual or divine or healing energy.
I think we do have a responsibility to help each other. Not just the obvious things like food and sharing. Also with energy, we're all made up of different energy. With psychological energy we can help others as well as with psychic energy we can help support the people around us and even the world. Maybe even the solar system, as far as we know.
One of the very simple meditation we will do will be a very simple kind of Buddhist meditation, in a way. Where you imagine the room being filled with light, and the universe to be happy and safe and caring place to be in.
To create that energy and feeling of love, to try to galvanise people around our shared references.
I mean we don't really know what we're capable of unless we open up a bit. I think really, now, more than ever, we really need to open up to each other and not worry so much about the 'correct' behaviour. I don't mean silly behaviour, obviously.
We all have these social conditionings, programmings about 'better not say that' even in religions. The failure of organised religion are all the rules; do this, don't do that, only go to the priest for guidance.
I believe that we're coming to a time in our spiritual evolution where we are our own priests or priestesses. We need to make personal contact with our fellow human beings and with our gods, or supreme being or whatever you may call your higher power or divine.
Everybody comes from a different space, and belief structure, either based on their culture or environment where they grew up. There really isn't a one sized fits all philosophy, or belief there are elements of truth in all the major religious beliefs, which I think can help us all come together.
We need to try to release all these phobias about what we can say and what we can't say about things. We live by some many rules; stop signs, one way streets, you can only go down certain paths.The mind likes these sort of rules, perhaps to entertain itself. The repetition of sameness isn't good for you.
Leslie: It seems that a lot of the major religions have taken the spirituality away from the individual, instead of letting people be responsible for their own spiritual path. It's nice to see that there's a movement to take that back.
Dave: It's taking the responsibility for your own soul. It's very easy when you feel like you've sinned or transgressed to go to a priest or pastor or some authority to get absolution. When in fact, I think, spiritual energy doesn't work like that.
I like to think that there is an all compassionate life force in the universe or maybe it's the universe itself. I mean if there wasn't I don't think we'd be allowed to do some of things men do.
We haven't been the most respectful beings towards the planet or really to each other. We spend more time trying to take things from each other or kill one another. It's a contrivance of the mind, which seems to be encouraged in modern society. It's almost like we have to have conflict, but why? Why can't we be peaceful beings, and try to understand each other?
I've had first-hand life experience growing up in a large family, there were eight kids in my family. I mean everybody is so different, yet we have that love connection and you had to make it work. So that is like a microcosm. In the macrocosm, the greater world around us, sure you may be one race, and I'm another and don't step of my border, it's all part of the mind's playing tricks. In some levels it finds that sort of fun.
I like to have fun, too, don't get me wrong. The mind can be a pretty curious area of our whole being and we need to pay attention to what it is doing so that it doesn't get out of control. It shouldn't rule us, we need to rule it and pay attention to the environment we create as a result.
When I say environment, I don't just mean the air and the trees I mean the psychic energy, which is really more important. It's important to look at the choices that are available. We can do this, or the other, but it's crucial to think of the consequence.
Even when we dream we may not be making the right choices. Especially if we have a mind that is out of control. That's why I think it's important to address these inner issues. Not just for reasons of judgement, not just what's right or what's wrong, but rather for understanding.
We really don't use our minds in an intelligent way. That's why I am really looking forward to the Satsang Weekend. As a gathering to understand what we call truth, and about life, to learn and teach each other.
I think it's important, to build a sense of community for a stronger future. Our economy has shown us that we can't live in isolation, like we're in a castle with a moat around it. We need to touch, feel and interact with others.
Leslie: I think it's really important to understand yourself, it helps you to understand other people if you know what motivates you.
Dave: Absolutely. I think I learned more from my home life than I learned in school. I learned how to read and write in school, obviously. But I think schools also stuff kids heads with trivial information. Children's minds should be expanded, not contracted and focused on things that really don't help them grow.
That's why I think music and art are so important. In Western society, it's more important to have accounting skills or legal knowledge, and so on. But it's not what human beings are really about, we are about about creative expression.
There's a big different between intelligence and intellect. Intellect tries to be clever, playing with words and empirical concepts, where intelligence is the all knowing in touch with the more critical things like love, and spirituality and connection with others.
Unfortunately a lot of Western countries are run by pure intellect, people who are clever but not exactly wise. There is a big difference between these things. Wisdom takes longer to develop.
